The Valley native heads the Phoenix-based logistics-management firm that specializes in trucking transportation, supply chain and warehouse management. GlobalTranz is projected to generate $80 million in revenue this year, and an upcoming expansion will add more than 100 jobs in Arizona plus regional offices in Dallas, Los Angeles and Chicago. In addition to its Phoenix headquarters, there is a second location in Prescott.

Leto developed software that optimizes the flow and storage of merchandise and products within the ground-freight industry. It allows companies to easily select transportation options that best fit their various needs such as scheduling, prices and other requirements. What the program does is similar to Internet search engines that facilitate travel planning.

But when Leto started the company in 2003, he discovered an industry that was decades behind the times. "The transportation industry was very barbaric in some ways. They were still using typewriters," he said. Using the education and experience gained from working with his father's airfreight company, Leto was able to turn a longtime interest in Internet technology into a career.

"I took what I learned there and helped bring the logistics and transportation industry to the Internet age," Leto said.

Research showed Leto that shippers didn't have a clue as to what trucking option would best route their freight and give competitive pricing. Often, they would contact 10 different companies individually before picking one that may not have been the best choice.

He also discovered that while everyone covets the latest trendy electronic gadgets, clothing accessories and vehicles, the important detail of how those items get to their destinations was one that most venture capitalists did not care to consider. This meant Leto had to start small and reinvest his profits wisely so that his business could grow without relying on their dollars.

"It's very rare a venture capitalist will back logistics because it's not sexy," Leto said. "We've taken an unsexy industry that's being ignored and figured out ways to unfragment that and modify it by technology."

When he started GlobalTranz, Leto was a 24-year-old U.S. Navy veteran who had returned home after serving for five years. He joined the Navy after graduating from Scottsdale Horizon High School and got his wish to see the world by doing trips to Asia, the Middle East and South America. Leto was a sonar technician and monitored waterways for drug traffickers using small ships or vessels. He recalled being involved with a couple of busts and confiscating pallets of cocaine on ships.

Leto said his military experience helped prepare him for running his own business.

"It teaches you how to get along with people from all over the country. It definitely helped me with starting a company and enabled me to see how to build a structured organization," he said.

Over the past seven years, Leto's competitors have increased, keeping his team busy with updating their software to stay ahead of the pack in the $150 billion domestic-trucking industry.

Leto sells his software in the United States and Canada and has been able to thrive in the lagging economy because of the demand for his program and the services it provides.

In 2006, Leto was able to give his father the gift of retirement by merging his airfreight company with GlobalTranz.